Litter is unsightly and could be harming the local economy

Thoughtlessness and selfishness remain scourges of our modern society.

Every week this newspaper publishes amazing stories of local people who have gone our of their way to help others less fortunate than themselves, often through charity fund-raising feats of endurance. The sense of community spirit is extremely strong in this beautiful part of the world.

But, at the same time, there is a minority of other people who just don’t seem to care about anyone else but themselves.

Evidence of such mentality can be often be seen on our roads where some arrogant motorists fail to let others out of side roads or overtake or cut in front of other drivers at dangerous places - clealry they believe their lives are far more important than the people they upset or put at risk.

Thoughtlessness also applies to those who have been leaving unsightly litter in the Lake District. National park rangers have reported sleeping bags, left-over barbecues and picnic remains dumped at the area’s car parks and picnic areas.

They refer to a ‘festival mentality’ becoming prevalent, in which some people think it’s fine simply to leave their rubbish behind them when they have had their fun.

Others, perhaps well-meaning, folk have been leaving bags of rubbish, apparently assuming they will be picked up in regular refuse collections. While this might happen in urban environments it is impossible in the countryside.

Whether the culprits for this all this litter are locals or tourists is impossible to determine. One would hope locals have more sense but then it is hard to fathom why visitors would aim to spoil the very thing they come to admire.

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Whoever is responsible, however, needs to understand that not only is litter unhygienic and potentially dangerous to wildlife, but it could also serve to put off visitors coming to an area which relies on tourism spend as the bedrock of the local economy.

But really is is fairly simple. Such people just need to stop for a moment and, instead of putting themselves first, think about other people for a change.

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Comments (1)

"Whether the culprits for this all this litter are locals or tourists is impossible to determine. One would hope locals have more sense but then it is hard to fathom why visitors would aim to spoil the very thing they come to admire" This has been happening for years. When we had a B&B in Bowness we would see visitors arrive back at their cars parked on Rayrigg Road. Eat their take-away, put the remains out of the car door, into the gutter and drive off. People camp in private fields around Bowness and Windermere and just leave their mess when they go The Lake District is reaping what it has cultivated. Instead of getting people come to the area for it's special qualities we are getting those who are here instead of Blackpool or the Costas. The efforts to make the area a destination for day visitors is backfiring. Day visitors don't stay overnight, rarely use restaurants and hang around the honeypot locations but don't support local businesses. No wonder the hotel operators are looking to Japan and China to get a better income stream.

"Whether the culprits for this all this litter are locals or tourists is impossible to determine. One would hope locals have more sense but then it is hard to fathom why visitors would aim to spoil the very thing they come to admire"
This has been happening for years. When we had a B&B in Bowness we would see visitors arrive back at their cars parked on Rayrigg Road. Eat their take-away, put the remains out of the car door, into the gutter and drive off.
People camp in private fields around Bowness and Windermere and just leave their mess when they go
The Lake District is reaping what it has cultivated. Instead of getting people come to the area for it's special qualities we are getting those who are here instead of Blackpool or the Costas.
The efforts to make the area a destination for day visitors is backfiring. Day visitors don't stay overnight, rarely use restaurants and hang around the honeypot locations but don't support local businesses.
No wonder the hotel operators are looking to Japan and China to get a better income stream.lakesailor

"Whether the culprits for this all this litter are locals or tourists is impossible to determine. One would hope locals have more sense but then it is hard to fathom why visitors would aim to spoil the very thing they come to admire" This has been happening for years. When we had a B&B in Bowness we would see visitors arrive back at their cars parked on Rayrigg Road. Eat their take-away, put the remains out of the car door, into the gutter and drive off. People camp in private fields around Bowness and Windermere and just leave their mess when they go The Lake District is reaping what it has cultivated. Instead of getting people come to the area for it's special qualities we are getting those who are here instead of Blackpool or the Costas. The efforts to make the area a destination for day visitors is backfiring. Day visitors don't stay overnight, rarely use restaurants and hang around the honeypot locations but don't support local businesses. No wonder the hotel operators are looking to Japan and China to get a better income stream.

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